**Man crush alert**

A while back… I reckon… about two years ago now… I happened upon a very dashing male lifestyle blogger called The Everyday Man. I immediately loved his posts and the rest was history.

Followed. Liked. Retweeted.

So, having always just chatted away to each other via Twitter or Instagram, we finally met up in real life, when he invited me along to an event at Equinox Kensington. He’s a Scottish blogger and often comes down to London to work with brands or attend blog/press events. Perfect!

You see, John Robertson AKA The Everyday Man (and a buff one at that!) is an Equinox Ambassador. This is where I get to insert a gratuitous photo of him looking hot… Ta da!

I was invited to check out one of Equinox’s newest signature programmes: Ropes & Rowers at Equinox Kensington, which was being hosted by John Robertson AKA The Everyday Manand Group Fitness Manager Caitlin McGowan.

I was really looking forward to finally getting to meet John, and get to grips with my first ever Ropes & Rowers session.

A small group of fashion, lifestyle and fitness bloggers were invited along to experience an exclusive preview of the Ropes & Rowers class, said to be ‘a calorie-torching, full-body session unlike any other.’

We split into small groups and like you would do in circuit training, we each took up an exercise at one of the stations set up for the class.

I love it when I get invited to blog events and there’s a mix bloggers that you know, and also a few new ones to meet too. I’d met the lovely Nik Speller a couple of times previously, and had looked up Joey’s blog when I found out he was attending too. Both guys are definitely worth a follow!

Equinox Kensington is a beautiful gym too. I mean, if they throw in free towels and delightfully-scented Kiehl’s products you’re onto a winner, right?

First off Caitlin demonstrated how to do each exercise (properly) and then proceeded to pushed us to our limits.

My first exercise was on the water rower, I had never tried this bit of kit before, but gave it my all. We carried on the class doing a few short bursts on each exercise, before moving on to the next. We repeated this sequence for a few rounds, until we were all a hot sweaty mess!

I’m a fan of High Intensity Interval Training, otherwise known as, HIIT. The classes are just long enough to get your heart racing and challenge your body in a way that works out every inch of you. It’s great for toning up the whole body.

Towards the end of 2015, exercise had fallen off my to-do list. So, come 2016, I decided to make feeling good again a priority. I picked myself up and booked in a series of gym classes to get myself back into the swing of things.

My January workout schedule consisted of:

Week 1

Monday: Insanity & PIYO

Tuesday: Yoga Flow

Wednesday: Iyengar Yoga

Friday: Metafit

Week 2

Tuesday: Yoga Flow

Wednesday: Iyengar Yoga

Thursday: Dynamic Yoga

Friday: Metafit

Week 3

Wednesday: Iyengar Yoga & Absolution

Thursday: Pilates

Friday: Metafit

Sunday: Metafit

Week 4

Tuesday: Yoga Flow

Wednesday: Iynegar Yoga

Thursday: Body Pump

We finished off with a healthy post-workout smoothie and a natter in the Equinox bar.

Hanging out with Joel Gallucks (check out his beautiful blog), Nik Speller and Joey London after our Equinox session.

I admit… we’re not as polished-looking here, as we often appear on Instagram… but we scrub up well! Promise.

It was lovely to meet Joel too. I look forward to seeing him conquer the world of social media, as he moves into freelance life and full-time blogging this year. I don’t get to meet that many male fashion & lifestyle bloggers very often. It’s usually us ladies that are grouped together at events. It’s always good to shake things up a bit and it’s always refreshing to meet new and inspiring people.

I look forward to seeing them again soon and maybe doing a few cheeky collaborations…

COLLABORATE

*** If you are looking for fashion/fitness/lifestyle bloggers to review any sort of sport, fitness, health & wellbeing activities, get in touch. We’re always up for trying something new! ***